9 replies to this topic

[WingedPanther]

First of all, I don't go to the warez sites. I'll either buy a piece of software, find an alternative, or do without. One of the things I'm good at is finding very cheap or legally free software that does what I want. For me, then to buy software, it has to be reasonably priced and add value to what is available for free.

Example: Visio is a great program. However, when I go to buy it and see: "Retail price $559/$349 for Professional, or $259/$129 for Standard," I have to stop and ask myself what I'm getting for that much money. Dia does many of the same things... for free. Dynamic Draw does many similar things... for free. Visio can't just be great at what it does, it has to provide $130+ dollars of EXTRA value over the others.

Video games is another area. If a game is $50, I can pretty much guarantee that I won't be buying it. When it gets down to $30, I'll start thinking about it. $15 puts it in the impulse buy zone. Since most games will eventually get below $30, it takes a rare entry (StarCraft2) to get me to pull out my wallet.

Usually, I won't fork out money for software these days. I'll let my job buy software I need for my job, but for personal use, there's very little that I feel is worth the cost.

[Sysop_fb]

Last software I bought was a redhat bundle some years ago because it came with a book I wanted.

I'll also be pulling out my wallet for starcraft2 and diablo3 when I get home

[BlaineSch]

I dont really feel any software should cost a ton. Like you said photoshop is horribly expensive. I got a CS suite a few years back and have found it to be fine. I dont need to upgrade to do those extra little things I can just hop on a library computer at my university and play around with it on their.

At work I have virtually any type of software I need. Most of the software I use regularly is free for the most part. I do use Photoshop quite often but I am not advanced enough to really miss any features with a CS2 version - I dont feel I need to upgrade for light touchups. I got the CS2 upgrade for free part of the tuition costs.

I have only pulled out money for a few OS's, although im starting to see the linux light hehe, and a game or two. I got an Age of Empire cd collection - had like the first and second in gold edition or something in one case for $10 at walmart - and I got my girlfriend the Sims 3 game for $50. I originally got my game because it was on sale and only $10! I got the Sims 3 game cause my girlfriend wanted it and really doesn't ask for much. Why she wants it? I dunno...

[NatalieM]

I have been to Warez websites in the past when I was a student but I don't anymore. Either I do without, or I find a freeware alternative, or I save up and buy it.

What makes me buy a software?

1. Does a specific thing well.
2. Community of online users/support forums etc
3. Easy to download and install.
4. A fully featured 30 days free trial period, after which I can just buy it at the click of a button without having to reinstall the whole thing.
5. Price that I find fair based on the benefits I will get from it.
6. For complex software, I really like when there are different versions of the software, from basic to full featured, priced accordingly, with possibility to upgrade from one to the other one easily.

Software I have bought within the last 12 months:
1. Finale Songwriter
2. Crossword Weaver
3. Groove Agent (a VST Instrument)
4. Guitar Pro

As you can see, most software I have bought recently is music related. I have recorded a full album in the past with Linux + Ardour software but after doing the automatic update for Ardour, I found myself unable to open my original multi track files, which was quite upsetting (the album was done but it means I am unable to remix the tracks now if I wanted to) so I then switched to Windows + Cubase, which is pretty stable and hasn't given me any cause for concern. Having said that, there are a few wonderful freeware music softwares out there, like Audacity.

The other category of softwares I buy a lot of is graphics. AutoCAD (my day job), video editing software and so on. I don't have Photoshop because Gimp does the trick for me but I have yet to find a freeware software even half as powerful and easy to use as AutoCAD. And yes, I have used Blender and after following a tutorial, it crashed my computer - I restarted the computer, started the tutorial again and it crashed again. I haven't touched it since...

[zeroradius]

I am like winged panther in the fact i refuse to steal software (anymore) . I buy depending on things i think I will use on a regular basis. Cost plays a small role but if I want somthing I usualy save up the money and buy it no matter the cost.

Recent buys
Adobe CS4 Master collection - I got it fairly cheap ($999). I had a leagle copy of CS2 that i was supose to delete after high school so i thought i would get copy that i cold not get in trouble for having. I only needed the web premium kit but thought for a few hundred extra dollars it would be nice to be able to make videos if i wanted to. I use dreamweaver just about every day for keeping my sites organized (plus CS4 has live view and live code view wich saves me a good deal of time) and althou im no good at it i love photoshop and flash (CS4 versions has 3D support *Squeals* I <3 working with 3D even thou i suck at it). I can see hobies using every pice of software of the master collection so i bought it.

Corel painter 11 - I paid $50. I could not pass that up. It goes great with my draw pad (that I also suck at using) I have lots of fun making stuff and then deleting it in there ^_^

[smith]

I don't purchase software, really. I try to find free alternatives if possible. This is because I am broke. If I had more money I would probably be willing to purchase more items.

[relapse]

arslan, I really hate you.

You are saying that marketing and "other things" make you buy software? What other things? Why did you even make such a useless post?

[Viper Chief]

I fall under the whole, if I need it and it's worth it, I'll buy it.

For instance, I don't own a copy of Vista (relied on XP, Linux and FreeBSD), but I may buy Windows 7. Not sure, though. That's a lot of money. Somewhat worth it (more than Vista was), but don't know if I want to spend it. Eh, I have the RC until next year.

On the plus side, I get a lot of the software I'm interested in for free (VS, Server 2008, SQL Server, etc), all thanks to DreamSpark and I get Office for a ridiculous discount because the AF has a Home Use Program agreement with Microsoft.

Other than that, everything I need is free (I've gotten lucky...Dreamspark, work, freeware and FOSS have worked for me). But, if there was something I needed or liked, and I thought the value was good, I'd buy it. That whole "value" thing is the key, I think.